The Oxford/Pushkin Children’s Fantasy Prize
To mark this 50th Anniversary year since the death of JRR Tolkien, we are proud to announce
the winner in our contest to discover new voices writing fantasy for middle grade (9+) and
Young Adult.
Without further ado: the winner is
Amy Bryant The Lion and the Mage
This is a gripping story of a street thief turned Apprentice Mage, Ezran, who is raised to believe
he is fated to save the kingdom - that is until he captures a girl with the healing touch who
challenges all his beliefs.
The judging panel consisted of a publisher, an agent and two authors. Amy’s story impressed
us all for its themes of familial love, rebellion and how to escape your past. We felt it a worthy
successor to the fantasy stories of the Inklings.
Amy wins our £2000 prize plus mentorship with Pushkin’s Children’s Books.
Our runners-up were:
Grace Caveney Do You Know Where the Raindrops Go?
Meg Gaertner A Very Strange Enchanted
Pen Holland The Caretaker of York
Reba Khatun Don’t Go Out After Dark
They win free entry to one of our courses to help their writing journey. However, we were so
impressed by their work that we are sharing it with agents. If you are an agent or publisher who
would like to hear more about these excellent new writers, please contact us.
For more about the Oxford Centre for Fantasy visit https://oxfordcentreforfantasy.org
To learn about Pushkin Children's Books go to
https://pushkinpress.com/all-books/pushkin-childrens-books/
For further information and interviews, contact info@OxfordCentreForFantasy.org
Terms and Conditions
Key dates
Submission opens 31 March 2023 and closes 23:59 on 31 May 2023. If you are entering from overseas, please note the competition opening and closing times are based on GMT (UK) time.
Longlist announced: 30 June 2023
Shortlist of 5 authors announced: 1 September 2023
Overall winner and runner-up announced at ceremony at 12th October.
What does the winner get?
The winner of The Oxford/Pushkin Children’s Fantasy Prize will be announced in October 2023 and awarded GB £2000, and an offer of mentorship to the winning author and title from Pushkin Children’s Books.
All shortlisted writers will be invited to join the Oxford Centre for Fantasy’s 6-week online novel writing course to further hone their craft (worth £375).
And what’s more…
In addition to the mentorship, Pushkin Children’s Books will have the right to acquire World Rights (all languages) in the winning title, pending agreement with the winner, but reserves the right not to acquire these rights.
This means potentially your book could be sold worldwide by their team on your behalf.
Who is eligible to enter?
The Oxford/Puskin Children’s Fantasy Prize is a prize for an unpublished novel for children or young adults from emerging fantasy novelists.
Novels submitted must be unpublished, including not self-published, and not under contract with any publisher.
The author does not have to be unpublished. However, the prize is designed for someone in the early stages of their career, which we define as having no more than two published fiction books under their pen names and who has not received a contract with an advance from a publisher for fiction.
Entrants must not be employed by The Oxford Centre for Fantasy or Pushkin Press. Entrants who are employed by our judges or their organisations may not apply.
What can I send in?
You may only submit one entry (multiple entries under different pen names will be disqualified).
Novels can be for young adult or Middle Grade (9+) readers and in any genre of fantasy (including science fiction).
The competition is open to writers over the age of eighteen, of any nationality and resident in any country. However, all entries must be written in English.
The submission should be the full MS of your fantasy novel, and a 500 word complete synopsis. Please include plot spoilers in your synopsis. Your synopsis will not be published or discussed in public at any time. The finished manuscript must be complete, and between 50,000–120,000 words in length. These two pieces should be submitted in one document, in Word or PDF formats.
Please format your entry to use a 12 pt. font and 1.5 line – double line spacing, and page numbers.
You will receive a message confirming your entry once submitted.
How much does it cost?
In line with other competitions with many entries there is an entry fee, though we have set ours exceptionally low, at £5, payable via the form when you submit.
We hope this won’t deter anyone but it will pay for administration of your entry, including employing readers to filter the entries.
What is not allowed?
The work submitted must be the author’s original work (no AI generated prose or assistance and no plagiarism). If any author is found to have used AI or plagiarised, they will be barred from this contest and future contests run by Oxford Centre for Fantasy. By entering, you agree that any prizes or money, if gained under false pretences, must be returned.
Entries must not include explicit or offensive material.
Entries may not be altered after submission.
What else is involved?
Entrants retain full copyright, however by entering, all shortlisted entrants give permission for The Oxford Centre for Fantasy and Pushkin Children’s Books to post a description (or blurb) of the books on our website and social media outlets.
By entering, the winner agrees to an interview which may be published on our site and in any media for publicity purposes.
What if I don’t hear from you?
If you are longlisted or shortlisted, we will send you an email shortly before the social media announcements and the announcement on our website. If your novel’s name is not featured on our social media announcements or listed on our blog as being longlisted or shortlisted, then you have not been longlisted or shortlisted. We cannot enter into any correspondence about longlisting or shortlisting.
The judges’ decision is final and no further correspondence can be entered into.
Entry Form